June Jordan saw it all during her life - and wrote about most of
it. Born in Harlem, she grew up with many of the problems which
beset underprivileged young black Americans: a violent father and
racial and sexual discrimination. Life did not become any easier
with the transition to adulthood as she was forced to deal with
divorce and single motherhood, her own mother's suicide, twice
being raped and finally falling victim to breast cancer. Such
adversity did not, however, stand in the way of her involvement in
the great political issues of her day such as the Civil Rights and
Anti-War in Vietnam movements and latterly gender politics. Such a
rich, if traumatic, tapestry of experience provides the raw
material as well as the inspiration for this collection of essays,
some of which are published here for the first time. Jordan writes
with the passion and eloquence one would expect from a committed
political activist and poet as she describes intensely personal
experiences on the one hand and discusses matters of world
importance on the other. Several essays give vent to the anguish
and suffering inflicted by rape and cancer, as well as to her anger
at the way in which society deals with such matters, be it the
glorification of such notorious figures as O J Simpson and Mike
Tyson or the failure of the healthcare system to respond to the
needs of its patients. Much of Jordan's writing is devoted to the
endless struggle for racial equality and covers such areas as the
rise of white supremacist and religious fundamentalist groups, the
continuing case for affirmative action, police brutality towards
blacks and analysis of the legacy of Martin Luther King. Finally,
she applies herself to current global issues such as the attitude
of the US towards Muslims and the world order since September 11,
arguing that Americans must not allow themselves to become a
terrorist force. (Kirkus UK)
"She remains a thinker and activist who'insists upon complexity.'
"Reamy Jansen, San Francisco Chronicle * Some of Us Did Not Die
brings together a rich sampling of the late poet June Jordan's
prose writings. The essays in this collection, which include her
last writings and span the length of her extraordinary career,
reveal Jordan as an incisive analyst of the personal and public
costs of remaining committed to the ideal and practice of
democracy. Willing to venture into the most painful contradictions
of American culture and politics, Jordan comes back with lyrical
honesty, wit, and wide-ranging intelligence in these accounts of
her reckoning with life as a teacher, poet, activist, and citizen.
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